Overture Duo Were Fired By Blackberry

My pal Claudia Eller has a funny little scoop on the LA Times website about how Starz chief Chris Albrecht made a Blackberry mistake that led to Chris McGurk and Danny Rosett’s exit from Overture. (So I gotta ask: is this why moguls like Alan Horn and Ron Meyer refuse to use smart phones or even computers?) On July 1, Albrecht began a vacation in Majorca and read a hush-hush e-mail about the future of the Overture duo. Albrecht tapped out a confidential response suggesting that when he returned on July 12th there should be a discussions about removing the pair. But the reply went to approximately 400 Starz employees and senior executives — including McGurk and Rosett.

13 Comments

The higher you get, the harder the fall. This kind of mistake is really common. It can’t have come as a surprise, but it’s a harsh way to go.

Peggy • on Jul 13, 2010 5:24 pm

That’s fucked up. But funny.

rimjob • on Jul 13, 2010 5:24 pm

makes you wonder… was it even a mistake?

steath • on Jul 13, 2010 5:24 pm

Welcome to stupid corp …. As they say, shit happens, but perhaps not at a CEO level. Maybe it wasn’t a mistake? Things were leaked about overture and the possible sale for a long time. Corp made everything public. Nuts. Even Chris and Danny do not deserve this. (We know they are unfit to run a studio) The best studio is Sony, learn from them everyone.

Kabbe • on Jul 13, 2010 5:24 pm

there is no Majorca Mrs. Finke. it is called MALLORCA.

Anonymous • on Jul 13, 2010 5:24 pm

Still, less people saw it than his original plan to announce the firings on ESPN.

Unforgivable • on Jul 13, 2010 5:24 pm

Unforgivably embarrassing.
If Albrecht doesn’t even know how to use a blackberry- maybe he shouldn’t be running a cable network anymore. Idiotic dinosaur.

Mike • on Jul 13, 2010 5:24 pm

Tee hee… this is the sort of thing we former agency folk would’ve been fired over back in the day..

incredulous • on Jul 13, 2010 5:24 pm

good riddance to those two arrogant idiots. they have not made a good movie between them.

Overtureite • on Jul 13, 2010 5:24 pm

That’s harsh and wrong. At Overture we have had as good a record as many of the other indies. Movies like The Visitor and Law Abiding. The arrogance and idiocy was up above at Starz, which tied us up. We had Kids Are Alright and Starz made us walk away because it was too artsy in their mind! This was a great place to work once.

Arnie M. • on Jul 13, 2010 5:24 pm

C’mon! it was a buyer and good company and it was wrong to go down like that. Lots of people’s lives at the Company and in the business are going to be hurt by this.